TrailFinders Canada Newsletter

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TrailFinders brings back its popular journeys in
Turkey, ~~Jordan and Egypt~~

Note: Since the date of this original newsletter, due to ongoing political situations in Egypt and perceived spillover to Jordan, we have decided to cancel the Egypt and Jordan parts of this journey. The Turkey trip will proceed as planned.

These countries are so popular that last-year our journeys sold out in a matter of a few days. This year we've decided to start early, so we are very pleased to announce our itineraries for September and October 2011. The full details of these trips are now on our website.

We have once again scheduled these journeys so that they are one day apart. This allows our guests to take one or both journeys.

We've made several changes to these trips based on our recent experience and suggestions from our previous guests.

For Turkey, we've upgraded our starting hotel in Istanbul, we've changed our itinerary to make it more efficient and reduce the lengths of the drives and we've chosen new, centrally-located hotels in both Bodrum and Cappadocia.

For Jordan, we've changed the itinerary slightly to make it more efficient and have retained hotels that were mentioned by past guests as being their favourites.

As well, we've introduced many other changes to our itineraries in order to ensure a comfortable and enjoyable experience for all our guests. We firmly believe that these journeys are some of the finest trips available from any supplier.

We invite potential guests to compare our itineraries, hotels and inclusions with those of our competitors and we would be pleased to help guide you through the process to ensure that you end up choosing the itineraries best suited to your expectations and needs.

Click below to learn more about these amazing journeys and our other trips for the coming year.

Our Private Journey Schedule for 2011 and Early 2012
Click the trip picture or title for full details

Best of Southeast Asia 1	27 days	Feb 1 to Feb 27, 2011	Sold Out

Best of Southeast Asia 2	27 days	Feb 15 to Mar 13, 2011	1 room available

Highlights of Turkey can be combined with Jordan	15 days	Sept 17 to Oct 1, 2011	Space available

Highlights of Jordan can be combined with Turkey	12 days	Oct 3 to Oct 14, 2011	Space available


Best of Southeast Asia Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia details will be available in March	27 days	Jan 2012	Space available

Highlights of Chile, Argentina & Uruguay details will be available in March	23 days	Feb 2012	Space available

TrailFinders & World of Maps
present
January Slide Shows
at the Great Canadian Theatre Company!

We're pleased and excited to announce that we have teamed up with our friends at World of Maps to bring three of our most popular slide shows to the travellers of Ottawa.

These shows will be held at 7 pm sharp at the GCTC
located on the corner of Holland and Wellington Streets here in Ottawa.

The shows are:
Best of Chile and Argentina		Wednesday, January 5
Highlights of Jordan		Wednesday, January 12
Best of Southeast Asia		Wednesday, January 19
Please reserve your seat(s) by calling us at 613-789-1900

Flying to or through Dubai? Pay attention to new visa requirements

Over the past few years, the government of the United Arab Emirates has been building the world’s biggest air transit centre. Dubai’s Terminal 3 alone is now the largest building on earth (previously it was the Bangkok Airport) and the airport itself will handle more travellers than Heathrow, O’Hare and Atlanta combined. Consequently, it’s likely that more and more Canadians will be transiting via the UAE in future.

Until recently, Canada was a favoured nation with respect to UAE visa fees. Canadians did not require a visa to enter the UAE and were given a rubber-stamped 30-day entry permit on arrival – free of charge.

Well, things have changed thanks to our short-sighted Canadian government.

Following the government's refusal to grant extra landing rights in Canada to Emirates and Etihad Airlines (the major UAE carriers and two of the finest airlines on Earth), not only will Canadians now require a visa, but the costs are significant. A 30-day, non-renewable visa will cost $250, a three-month visa $500 and a six-month multiple entry will be $1,000. Even diplomatic passport holders will now have to apply for a visa in advance.

The new rules kicked in on January 1 and affect thousands of transiting Canadians as well as the 25,000 Canadians living in the UAE and employees of the 200 Canadian companies now operating in the country. The UAE is Canada's largest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa with bilateral trade exceeding $1.5 billion and with Canadian exports accounting for 95 per cent of it.

The new requirements do allow for a 96-hour transit visa to be issued for travellers just passing through, however unless travellers are using Emirates or Etihad, the red tape will require them to use local hotels or be sponsored by a family member, friend or business contact in country who will have to apply to the UAE's foreign ministry for the visa.

So, be careful when planning your next visit to the UAE!

Recipe of the month

You've probably seen new Vietnamese restaurants popping up in your neighbourhood over the past few years. Many of these trendy spots offer one of the best and most authentic Vietnamese dishes, a delicious beef soup called "Pho" (pronounced like the French "feu"). In case you haven't had a chance to try the commercial version, we offer the following recipe so you can make your own at home. Enjoy!

VIETNAMESE PHO

Ingredients

175g dried rice noodles
1 red chilli, seeds removed, thinly sliced
1 lime, cut into wedges
fish sauce (nam pla)
275 g filet steak, thinly sliced
a few handfuls mint and coriander leaves, roughly chopped
6 large spring onions, thinly sliced
75 g bean sprouts

For the broth

Beef stock cubes to make 1.5 litres
1.5 tsp black peppercorns
5 cloves
4 coriander seeds
1 cinnamon stick
3 star anise
5 pods green cardamom
3 cm piece fresh ginger, sliced but not peeled

Serves 6.

1. Put the rice noodles into a large bowl, cover with lots of boiling water and leave to soak according to packet instructions.
2. For the broth, put the beef stock cube(s) into a large saucepan and cover with 1.5 litres of boiling water. Add the spices and ginger to the broth pan. Simmer and skim debris off the surface as necessary.
3. Meanwhile put the chilli, lime wedges and fish sauce into separate small bowls so people can help themselves to each later.

4. When the rice noodles are ready, divide them among the serving bowls.
5. Bring the broth back to a near boil and cook enough fillet steak slices for each bowl in the broth by dipping them so the meat is covered. Leave for about 10 seconds or until the beef has changed to a pale pink colour. Place the beef slices into the bowl and top up with extra broth to cover the noodles. Add some of the mint and coriander, spring onions and bean sprouts. Repeat for each bowl.

6. Serve immediately with the small side dishes of chilli, lime and fish sauce on the side.

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